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Rush (2013 film)
Rush is a 2013 biographical sports film centred on the rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 Formula One motor-racing season. It was written by Peter Morgan, directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth as Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Lauda. The film premiered in London on 2 September 2013 and was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival before its United Kingdom release on 13 September 2013. Plot James Hunt and Niki Lauda are two highly skilled racing car drivers who first develop a fierce rivalry in 1970 at a Formula Three race at the Crystal Palace circuit in Britain, when both their cars spin out and Hunt eventually wins the race. Hunt is a brash, young Englishman with a tendency to vomit before every race, while Lauda is a cool, calculating Austrian technical genius who relies on precision. After a falling out with his father, Lauda takes a large bank loan and buys his way into the British Racing Motors Formula One team, meeting teammate Clay Regazzoni for the first time. Meanwhile, Hesketh Racing, the fledgling racing team Hunt drives for, enters Formula One as well. Lauda then joins Scuderia Ferrari with Regazzoni and wins his first championship in 1975. Hesketh closes shop after failing to secure a sponsor, but Hunt joins McLaren when Emerson Fittipaldi leaves the team. During this time, Hunt marries supermodel Suzy Miller, while Lauda develops a relationship with German socialite Marlene Knaus. The 1976 Formula One season starts with Lauda dominating the first two races while Hunt struggles to catch up. Hunt wins the Spanish Grand Prix, but is disqualified after a post-race inspection rules that his car is too wide. Struggling to comply with F1 rules, McLaren suffers a series of setbacks on the next few races, and Hunt's situation is further exacerbated when Suzy is discovered to have a relationship with actor Richard Burton. Following his divorce, he regains his competitive spirit and his disqualification in Spain is overturned, which reinstates the points he lost and puts him back into championship contention. Meanwhile, Lauda marries Marlene in a private ceremony but begins to have concerns about the effects of his marriage on his racing career. At the German Grand Prix, Lauda urges the F1 committee to cancel the race due to heavy rain on the already notoriously dangerous Nürburgring. At the drivers' meeting, Hunt argues that Lauda would benefit by having one fewer race in the season. The drivers vote to go ahead with the race. Both Hunt and Lauda start the race with wet weather tyres, which becomes a costly tactic due to most of the track quickly drying up. They both pit to change tyres during the second lap, but halfway through the third lap, a suspension arm in Lauda's Ferrari breaks, sending the car flying into an embankment before it bursts into flames and is further hit by other cars on the track. After being pulled out of the flaming wreckage, he is airlifted to the hospital with third-degree burns to his head and face and dangerous internal burns to his lungs. For the next six weeks, Lauda is treated for his injuries while he watches his rival dominate the races in his absence. Despite his doctor's orders, he decides to drive his Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix to finish fourth while Hunt fails to finish the race. The 1976 season comes to a climax at the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix. Hunt's late rally in Lauda's absence has pulled him within three points of Lauda. At the end of the second lap, Lauda returns to the pits and retires from the race as he thought it was too dangerous, opting to stay with Marlene instead of risking his life again on the track. This opens the door for Hunt to win the championship if he can notch a podium finish (third or better). After facing stiff competition under gruelling conditions and overcoming tyre problems and injuring his hand due to the gear shifter knob breaking, Hunt finishes third, giving him enough points to win the championship by one point over Lauda. He spends the rest of the year with fame, sex and drugs, while Lauda takes an interest in flying private planes. At a private airfield in Bologna, Lauda suggests to Hunt that he focus on the next racing season, but later on realises that Hunt no longer has anything to prove. Hunt continues to race until his retirement in 1979, and becomes a motorsport broadcast commentator until his death in 1993 at the age of 45. Cast * Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt * Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda * Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller * Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Lauda * Pierfrancesco Favino as Clay Regazzoni * Jochen Mass as Himself * David Calder as Louis Stanley * Natalie Dormer as Nurse Gemma * Stephen Mangan as Alastair Caldwell * Christian McKay as Lord Hesketh * Alistair Petrie as Stirling Moss * Colin Stinton as Teddy Mayer * Julian Rhind-Tutt as Anthony 'Bubbles' Horsley * Augusto Dallara as Enzo Ferrari * Joséphine de La Baume as Agnes Bonnet Hunt and Lauda appear as themselves at the end of the film in archive footage, and Lauda has a cameo at the climax of the film. Production The film was shot on location in the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria. Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, the Snetterton (Norfolk), Cadwell Park (Lincolnshire), the former Crystal Palace and Brands Hatch (Kent) motor racing circuits in Britain, and at the Nürburgring in Germany. Both vintage racing cars and replicas were used in the filming. The financiers include Hürth-based action concept Film- und Stuntproduktion, Egoli Tossell Film, Revolution Films (GB) and Cross Creek Pictures (US). The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW funded the film with €1.35 million, additional funding was provided by MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). Director Ron Howard originally intended for Russell Crowe to make a cameo appearance as Richard Burton for a brief scene where he confronts James Hunt on his affair with Suzy. Historical accuracy Some things in the film are exaggerated (like the Hunt–Lauda rivalry; in reality they had shared a flat early in their careers and were good friends), others downplayed (like Lauda's wife's shock at his disfigurement), and others invented (like Hunt beating up a reporter or the Nürburgring nickname being "the graveyard"; in fact Jackie Stewart had nicknamed it "the Green Hell"). Other inaccuracies include the British F3 battle at Crystal Palace, which in reality was between Hunt and Dave Morgan, and Hunt's overtake on Regazzoni for 3rd place in the Japanese Grand Prix when in the actual race he passed Alan Jones. Another error in the Japanese Grand Prix is that Regazzoni and Laffite finished fourth and fifth, while in the actual race it was Jones and Regazzoni who finished fourth and fifth. Soundtrack :Main article: Rush (2013 soundtrack) The film's orchestral score was composed by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack includes 1970s rock music by Dave Edmunds, the Spencer Davis Group (incorrectly credited solely to Steve Winwood, its lead singer), Mud, Thin Lizzy and David Bowie. Marketing BBC Two aired the documentary Hunt vs. Lauda: F1's Greatest Racing Rivals, on 14 July 2013. The documentary provides an extensive look at the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda, featuring interviews with Lauda and former crew members of the McLaren and Ferrari teams. The Ferrari & the Cinema Society jointly organised a screening of the film at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas in New York on 18 September 2013. Chris Hemsworth attended the screening. Reception Box office Rush earned $26.9 million in domestic box office, $71.3 million in international box office, with a worldwide gross of $98.2 million against a budget of $38 million. Critical reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 215 reviews with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, "A sleek, slick, well-oiled machine, Rush is a finely crafted sports drama with exhilarating race sequences and strong performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating to reviews, calculated an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Niki Lauda was pleased with the overall look of the film. He was quoted as saying: "When I saw it the first time I was impressed. There was no Hollywood changes or things changed a little bit Hollywood-like. It is very accurate. And this really surprised me very positively." Home media Rush was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 28 January 2014. A Sainsbury's exclusive edition complete with a Bonus Disc of new special features was released for a limited time. The Australian Blu-ray release is bundled with the 2013 documentary 1. Accolades Notes #There is some disagreement regarding the country of origin of Rush and this is a weighted listing of the sources. Andrew Eaton one of the film's producers calls it a British film, but also indicates it is an "Anglo-German co-production," while another source lists only Germany. External links *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/ Rush] on IMDb Category:2013 films Category:2010s drama films Category:2010s sports films Category:British films Category:British biographical films Category:British drama films Category:British sports films Category:American biographical films Category:American films Category:Auto racing films Category:Biographical films about sportspeople Category:Cross Creek Pictures films Category:English-language films Category:Exclusive Media films Category:Films produced by Brian Grazer Category:Films produced by Brian Oliver Category:Films produced by Eric Fellner Category:Films directed by Ron Howard Category:Film scores by Hans Zimmer Category:Films set in the 1970s Category:Films set in Austria Category:Films set in Brazil Category:Films set in Emilia-Romagna Category:Films set in England Category:Films set in Germany Category:Films set in Italy Category:Films set in Japan Category:Films set in London Category:Films set in New York (state) Category:Films set in the Netherlands Category:Films set in South Africa Category:Films set in Spain Category:Films set in Vienna Category:Films shot in Austria Category:Films shot in Cologne (Germany) Category:Films shot in England Category:Films shot in Hampshire Category:Films shot in Kent Category:Films shot in Norfolk Category:Formula One media Category:German films Category:German-language films Category:Imagine Entertainment films Category:Sports films based on actual events Category:Working Title Films films Category:Film scores by Lorne Balfe Category:Film scores by Jasha Klebe Category:Film scores by Bryce Jacobs